“Lives will be saved and lives will be made far better because of the LIVESTRONG Foundation and their pioneering vision.”

State Sen. Kirk Watson, D-Austin, a cancer survivor and former LIVESTRONG Foundation board member, said he felt proud to have helped facilitate the gift.

“The future will be the LIVESTRONG Foundation shepherding Austin as it becomes a center for comprehensive cancer care,” said Watson. “Let’s appreciate it’s a great day to be in Austin, Texas, and the future will have even more great days.”

In a nod to UT-Austin President Bill Powers’ recent struggles to stay at the helm of the system’s flagship, LIVESTRONG CEO Doug Ulman said, “We are in the business of survivorship. And you my friend have epitomized that very concept.”

The gift, the largest ever from the foundation founded in 1997 cyclist Lance Armstrong, will be disbursed over 10 years and will go to creating a uniquely survivor-focused system of integrated care based on the LIVESTRONG Foundation’s Patient-Centered Cancer Care model. The sizable gift was matched only by the $50 million given by the Michael and Susan Foundation, also to be disbursed over 10 years, which came with naming rights.

Watson also thanked the voters of Travis County, who approved a property tax hike in 2012 to yield in part $35 million annually to the Dell Medical School. The school at UT-Austin will welcome its first class in fall 2016.